The present invention relates to a bullet assembly for use with muzzle-loading rifles or other type guns. More particularly, the present invention relates to a two-piece bullet assembly for producing a hollow nose bullet to cause a mushrooming effect and to increase the amount of hydrostatic shock waves produced when the bullet strikes a target.
Muzzle-loading rifles are widely used by hunters to hunt deer or other animals. A problem associated with muzzle-loading rifles is that the velocity of the bullets fired from the rifles is too slow to produce the hydrostatic shock waves necessary to humanely kill or instantly disable the animal that the bullet hits. Therefore, the wounded animal often escapes from the hunter to die later.
If the muzzle-loading rifle is loaded with enough powder to obtain the desired high velocity, lead from the bullet will melt and form deposits in the barrel of the rifle. After lead deposits build up inside the barrel, it is necessary to re-barrel the rifle which can be very expensive.
One object of the present invention is to provide a bullet assembly which produces a mushrooming effect and which increases the amount of hydrostatic shock waves produced at a low bullet velocity.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a bullet assembly that can be used with conventional muzzle-loading rifles without modifying the rifles.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a bullet assembly which has substantial penetrative power.
According to the present invention, a bullet assembly comprises a nose member including an outer cylindrical wall having a predetermined diameter terminating at its forward end with a nose. The nose member also has a rearward end and an inner wall defining a concentric cavity extending axially and forwardly from the rearward end. The cavity has a predetermined axial depth. The bullet assembly also includes a base member having a cylindrical body of the same diameter as said nose member outer cylindrical wall. A projection is situated on the cylindrical body of the base member and extends axially forward to be tightly received in the cavity. The projection has an axial length less than the axial depth of the cavity to provide a hollow nose cavity completely disposed and enclosed within the nose member.
In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the projection has a truncated conical shape and extends concentrically and axially away from an upper surface of the cylindrical body of the base member to define an annular ledge on the base member. The nose member includes a concentric annular mating surface surrounding the cavity which abuts the annular ledge when the nose member and base member are joined together.
The inner wall of the nose member is equally spaced apart from the outer wall to provide a uniform thickness throughout the nose member. The uniform thickness of the nose member controls the degree of mushrooming when the bullet strikes a target. The nose of the nose member is generally hemispherically shaped. This shape of the nose prevents the deformation of the nose member when the bullet assembly is loaded into a muzzle-loading rifle by a cupped short starter.
One feature of the present invention is the provision of a hollow nose member formed to include a concentric cavity and a base member which is coupled to the nose member to provide a bullet assembly having a hollow nose cavity completely disposed and enclosed within the nose member. Advantageously, such a configuration provides a lighter weight bullet capable of traveling at higher velocities than conventional bullets with the same charge of powder. In addition, the nose member of the bullet assembly of the present invention mushrooms at low velocity and fragments at high velocity to provide hydrostatic shock waves at both high and low bullet velocities.
Another feature of the present invention is the provision of a tapered projection extending from the base member of the bullet to engage the cavity of the nose member. This locking taper prevents the bullet assembly from coming apart until the bullet hits the target. At low velocities, the nose member remains intact on the base member and mushrooms outwardly to produce a larger opening and increase the amount of hydrostatic shock produced when the bullet hits the target. At high velocities, the nose member will fragment and break away from the base member. The base member will then continue to penetrate into the target. Therefore, the bullet assembly of the present invention provides an improvement over conventional bullets in the amount of hydrostatic shock produced without substantially sacrificing penetrative power.
Additional objects, features, and advantages of the invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon consideration of the following detailed description of a preferred embodiment exemplifying the best mode of carrying out the invention as presently perceived.